Guest blog: Tight Theatre

Is there anything better in this world, than a pretty girl in her underwear?

Tight Theatre’s inaugural show, PUSSY, challenges this often held assumption. As an all-female company we were fed up with seeing women, and their pussy, being used to sell everything – music, yoghurt, cars, headphones. Not only are these women used for a solely commercial purpose but they are often shells of women. Women removed of body hair, of sweat: women of plastic perfection. Women for the pleasure of men. I mean, there has only just been a full understanding of what the clitoris actually is… (google it!)

We started to devise a piece focusing more on practice, on what felt ‘forbidden’ or ‘inaccessible’ to girls, i.e. what girls ‘DON’T DO’. We explored getting sweaty, getting physical, being imperfect. These original ideas and explorations are clear in PUSSY.

From the response to our Edinburgh Fringe run I think many girls understood and appreciated our discussion of “femininity” – and its complete contrast with the contained, meek, neat femininity so often praised and presented in contemporary culture.

Our finished piece is an exploration of what it means to be a girl today… Concentrating on the taboo subjects.

Masturbation

Girls masturbate too!! PUSSY confronts this often-deemed idea that girls don’t do that! In cinema, female masturbation is often given a far higher rating than a guy having a wank. Female sexuality is seen as best as something to be feared… Or at worst, as something that doesn’t exist.

Sexuality

Female sexuality is often seen as something which is only there as a performance for men. A woman can be sexy, as long as she’s the subject; as long as it’s in a way that only exists for male titillation. As soon as a woman is in control of her sexuality, and she is sexual in a way that is not deemed appropriate and palatable for men, it becomes a threat.

Female relationships

Okay, so this is perhaps less “taboo”, but it’s a huge part of what Tight Theatre is all about. We want to explore how we as women, relate to each other, which underpins the earlier two points as well. We explore how women can be cruel in the face of differences among fellow women. It is often this which hurts more—girls being mean to other girls.

DISCLAIMER

We promise that in this piece you will be shocked and laugh in equal measure. A key part of our piece is comedy as a means of discussing issues confronting young women in our country. We want people to come to our show and to laugh and think! We are all about humour to discuss and convey issues, and we find comedy an extremely effective tool.

We dare you to come and confront our sweaty hairy bodies. Laugh at them too.

XO Tight Theatre XO <3

Tight Theatre are a new all-female group of University of Bristol drama graduates. They met in Bristol, formed in 2014. They aim to make provocative, funny and accessible physical theatre. Tight Theatre are performing PUSSY on the 25th September, at 8:00pm. Find out more here